Dimple

Fly greener, further, and faster with our novel drag-reducing surface

Turbulence Technology Team

Fly greener, further, and faster with our novel drag-reducing surface

The problem of turbulence

Turbulent friction accounts for € 81 Bn of annual aircraft fuel burn

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Turbulent friction is the single largest source of fuel consumption in aviation

Turbulent friction

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A large part of the aircraft is not optimized to reduce turbulent friction

What we make

Our technology reduces turbulent drag by up to 4%. We develop surfaces with smooth and shallow indentations that reduce skin friction in a turbulent boundary layer. Designs are unique to specific environments and applications. You'll go further, faster, and do it greener.

This is no golf ball

We use dimples in an innovative way that is fundamentally different to the classic golf ball. Our surfaces establish a finely tuned steady pressure field, which suppresses near-wall turbulence in the boundary layer. The Dimple team has published several scientific papers outlining the main flow concepts:

Drag reduction by means of dimpled surfaces in turbulent boundary layers

Experiments in Fluids. September 2016, 57:142

Flow visualization over drag reducing dimpled surfaces in turbulent boundary layers using Particle Image Velocimetry

18th International Symposium on the Application of Laser and Imaging Techniques to Fluid Mechanics. July 2016.

An experimental investigation into the flow mechanics of dimpled surfaces in turbulent boundary layers

AIAA SciTech Forum. January 2018.

Development of an experimental apparatus for flat plate drag measurements and considerations for such measurements

Measurement Science and Technology. February 2022.

Key benefits

A low-cost worry-free approach to reducing fuel consumption

Passive

Our surface is passive, it just works. There is no energy expenditure and it has zero moving parts. It is inherently simple, cheap, and light.

Fuel savings

Our surface technology improves areas where no other attractive solution is available, reducing fuel consumption substantially.

Low maintenance

Our geometries are smooth and shallow making them compatible with standard cleaning and maintenance procedures.

Retrofittable

The technology can easily be retrofitted to existing aircraft panels in order to obtain significant fuel savings.

Low design impact

The shallowness of our geometries allows skin panels to be treated as normal panels during the design process.

Widely applicable

The surface works in fully turbulent flows making it applicable to more than 90% of the wetted surface of aircraft.

Turbulence is everywhere

Our surfaces are applicable to other applications involving long fully developed turbulent boundary layers. This includes hulls of large marine vessels, high-speed trains, and the interior of transmission pipelines.

Marine